Untitled
by curly-wurly99
Summary: Jasper and Emmett find a young vampire, injured and alone in the woods. Rated M for language and possibly some adult themes later on. I'm still searching for a title for this.
1. Chapter 1

_Oh god, what has happened?_ I heard Emmett's footsteps thunder up the driveway and through the front door. Literally, through the front door. I was halfway down the stairs by the time he reached the bottom step. His eyes were wide.

"Carlisle," he breathed, "We need you."

He immediately turned around and ran back the way he came. I followed behind him, not asking any questions. Later, I would feel shame that my first thought was that Jasper had killed a human.

Emmett led me to the river, about twelve miles north of our home. I could see Jasper, crouched down on the rocks. His lips were moving, but he was speaking so softly I couldn't hear what he was saying. Or see who, or what, he was speaking to.

"Jasper found her first." Emmett began explaining.

"Her?" I asked.

He shrugged as I started climbing over the rocks towards Jasper. I approached from behind him, allowing me to get a good look at this girl, and more importantly, allowing her to get a good look at me as I moved towards her.

"We don't know who she is, can't get much sense out of her." Emmett said, following behind me.

A small, fair haired vampire was crouched down with her back against a large rock. Her clothes were torn and dirty and she was barefoot. I could see she was trembling, clearly frightened, despite the calm I could feel radiating from Jasper. Her eyes were black with thirst. I had never seen a vampire so thirsty; it was bound to be driving her mad. I sent Emmett to find her something to eat.

Jasper was still crouched down a few feet in front of her. I followed his lead, trying to make myself as small and unthreatening as possible. I slowly crept towards her and was surprised that she let me. I reached out and placed my hand on her shoulder. She leapt back as though I had burned her. I tried again, and again. Each time I got the same reaction. She let me approach but jumped as though in severe physical pain when I reached for her.

"Don't touch her," Jasper called softly, "you're hurting her."

 _How on earth could I be hurting her?_ I was barely touching her, certainly not squeezing her shoulder or using any sort of force. _Oh god,_ the sudden realisation hit me. _She's an empath._ I looked at Jasper, my eyes wide. He only nodded. She could sense our emotions, my shock and concern, and now my rising worry at this new revelation; Emmett's curiosity and nervous excitement, and, I hoped, Jasper's calm. Every time I touched her, she felt my emotions a thousand fold. It was like I was burning her, a searing pain of shock and worry, all concentrated on her shoulder. Then I felt soothing waves of calm and felt the knot in my stomach lessen. I shot Jasper an appreciative smile. I was thankful for his gift and grateful that he was always so willing to use it for the benefit of others, despite it costing him dearly at times.

Emmett returned with a deer, I motioned to him to set it down in front of her and then the three of us moved back, giving her space and hopefully reassuring her that we weren't a threat and we wouldn't take her meal.

I wondered how we could convince her to come home with us. _If_ she would come home with us. We couldn't leave her here, frightened and alone, but I wondered how she would react to being thrust into a house with seven other vampires. As he usually was, Jasper was one step ahead of me. The girl finished her meal and Jasper stood up. He took a few steady, confident steps towards her, his gaze never leaving her face.

"Come home with us." he said, holding out his hand to her. After a few moments hesitation, she stood up, reaching for his hand.

It was then that I noticed her leg. Her jeans were badly torn and her leg bent at an awkward angle. She winced each time she put weight on it as Jasper led her across the rocks. It is a myth that vampires can't be injured. We can be. It just takes far greater force to injure us than it takes to injure a human. I shuddered when I thought of what effort it would have taken to hurt her like this.

We began the long walk home. At this pace, it would take us a few hours, but the girl was clearly in pain and it would be cruel to expect her to walk any faster. I walked ahead with Emmett; Jasper and the girl followed behind. As we walked, Emmett told me that he and Jasper had found her about half an hour before he had gone to get me. Jasper had sensed her first, picking up on the girl's emotions. Then they had both caught her scent and followed it. She had panicked when she saw them and tried to run off. Emmett, unthinking, had chased after her, causing her sense of panic to increase. She hadn't been able to run far, and had curled into a ball by the rocks on the river bank. She had hissed and snarled when they tried to approach her.

We had been walking for around twenty minutes when Jasper called out, causing us to stop. I turned around and was surprised to see the pair were quite a distance behind us. The girl was clearly struggling to walk. Jasper came towards me and Emmett quickly moved back towards the girl, lightly touching his brother's shoulder as he passed him. Sometimes, it seemed like they could read each other's minds. I had watched them in awe for years, especially as they hunted. They seemed to intuitively know what the other was thinking and acted accordingly. Jasper needed to talk to me but didn't want the girl to be alone. Emmett had sensed this and moved to stand beside our newcomer.

"You might need to have a look at her leg." Jasper said as he approached me. "She's in a lot of pain."

That much was clear; the girl had been grimacing from the moment she stood up, pain clearly etched on her face. I nodded, feeling the dread fill my stomach. I could fix the girl's leg, as I had fixed numerous broken bones belonging to Emmett and Jasper over the years, but repairing the injury was going to hurt her. Not to mention the pain she would no doubt feel when I touch her.

"Be calm," Jasper said, as we walked back towards Emmett and the girl. "It'll help her feel better."

I nodded. Over the years, I had learned how to channel feelings of calm towards Jasper when he needed it. I had become quite proficient at it, but this was different. I wasn't often worried, but this girl had caused me to worry and I was finding it difficult to ignore my apprehension. _Who was she? Where had she come from? Could we help her? Would she even let us try to help her?_

"Carlisle can fix your leg." Jasper said simply. "Will you let him?"

She looked from Jasper to me and then back to Jasper again. I knelt down beside her and prayed she would see that I meant her no harm. She held my gaze for a moment and then her eyes flickered to Jasper one last time, who smiled slightly and nodded. She looked back at me and gave the tiniest nod.

I breathed a sigh of relief and moved closer towards her. I explained what I was going to do and told her it was going to hurt. I knew that no matter how much I emphasised that point, she would never be able to comprehend just how much it would hurt, so I didn't dwell on that fact for too long. I put my hands on her leg, one above and one below the broken bone. She grimaced as I touched her and I tried to channel every ounce of calm I could muster into my finger tips and into the girl's body. I felt her body tense and she braced herself for what was to come. It was then that I noticed there were two breaks in her leg. _Shit._ I was going to have to do this twice. _Would she even let me a second time?_

"Okay," I said softly to her "Let's go." She inhaled a sharp breathe as I pushed the two pieces of bone together and I felt them start to bind beneath my hands. The girl cried out in pain, such an anguished sound that Emmett winced and looked away. She struggled to pull away from me and I fought to keep her where she was. Jasper moved behind her, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders in an effort to keep her still.

"Thanks." I murmured to him, still concentrating on pushing the two bones together. Letting go midway through the healing process and starting again would only cause her more pain. And there was the possibility that the bones would only half-heal and need broken again to heal properly. I didn't think could break anyone's bones; never mind someone as delicate as this girl. So I ignored her screams and her struggles to break free. Eventually, I felt the bones knit together.

Although she was crying in pain, and was breathless and sweating, I didn't stop. I moved my hands down her leg to the second break and began pushing them together too, feeling them slowly start to bind. This break wasn't as clean as the first one, and fixing it took longer and caused the girl even more pain. She increased her efforts to break free; twisting her body in an attempt to get away from me, thrashing her arms in Jasper's direction and looking pleadingly at Emmett. Of course, she would be no match for any single one of us, and didn't stand a chance against the three of us. She fought impressively though.

As soon as I finished, I let go of her leg and Jasper released his grip on her. She jumped up, eyes wet with tears and her face contorted in pain and fear. She was trembling again, as violently as she had been when I first approached her by the river.

"I'm sorry it hurt so much," I said.

Her eyes flashed from me, to Jasper and to Emmett, then back to me again. Then, she turned and ran. Emmett took off after her in an instant.

"Emmett!" called Jasper. "You'll frighten her!"

"Well, we can't leave her out here!" He called back.

He was right, of course, and Jasper and I followed him through the woods. Fortunately, she was running in the general direction of our house. Emmett caught up with her about three miles from our house. He wrestled her to the ground, refusing to release his grip on her until she calmed down. It didn't take long, and when Jasper and I caught up to them, Emmett was sitting on the ground against a tree, the girl sitting beside him. She looked nervous and was fidgeting. Her body tensed as Jasper and I approached. She jumped up and stood facing us, breathing heavily, her eyes betraying just how much she didn't trust us. _What had happened to her?_

I stayed quiet as Emmett gently coaxed her into coming home with us, where she could get showered and we could find her some clean clothes. He held out his hand to her, as Jasper had done earlier. She moved towards him and took his hand. She clung closely to him as we made our way back to the house, this time Jasper and I led the way, while Emmett followed behind with the girl.

Jasper didn't speak; I could tell his was concentrating on sending as much calm towards the girl as he possibly could. Behind us, I heard Emmett ask what her name was. It hadn't occurred to me to ask her, and I had wrongly assumed Jasper and Emmett already knew. After a pause, she told Emmett that she didn't remember her name; her voice distressed. Jasper, sensing the girl was upset, turned around and gave Emmett a dirty look. I looked back in time to see Emmett mouth 'sorry' to Jasper and then turn his attention back to the girl.

"Don't worry," Emmett said "Alice doesn't remember much of her life before she became a vampire."

 _Oh god, she did know she was a vampire, didn't she?_

"Alice?" she asked, confused.

Of course, Emmett was talking to her about people she hadn't even met yet. It suddenly occurred to me that she probably didn't know our names either. As we walked, Emmett told her our names and explained the dynamics of our strange family.

We approached the house and Edward came out to meet us, curious about our newcomer and probably concerned about the frenzied thoughts he was hearing from the three of us. The girl growled at him and attempted to flee. Thankfully, Emmett was prepared this time and grabbed her before she got too far away.

"It's okay, it's just Edward." he said, calmly.


	2. Chapter 2

I stared out the window of my study into the darkness of the woods that surrounded our home, lost in my thoughts of all that had happened these last two days. The house was quiet for now, peaceful, and I wondered how much of that was to do with Jasper.

We had managed to get the girl to relax and settled enough after she had got showered. Emmett, who seemed to be the only one of us not entirely shell-shocked, had the presence of mind to find her some of Rosalie's clothes to wear. It was a sign of how concerned I was about the girl that I didn't give any consideration to how Rosalie would react to finding a stranger wearing her clothes when she returned home. We tried to ask questions, but each time she became distressed when she couldn't remember anything. Her fear was palpable and I didn't need Jasper's gift to know she was terrified. I wished the girls would hurry back. For reasons I couldn't quite explain, I was sure being alone in a house with four males was only adding to her distress.

When the girls did return, her fear rose again. Seven vampires with so many questions and emotions seemed to be more than she could bear. She took off into the woods on more than one occasion. Each time, Jasper or Emmett followed after her and brought her back. She seemed to have forgiven Jasper for the role he had played in helping me fix her leg, and the beginnings of trust were starting to spring up.

While she seemed to have forgiven Jasper, she certainly hadn't forgiven me. She barely spoke to me, and seemed to go to great lengths to avoid me. As much as possible, I tried to give her space, reasoning that she would come round to me eventually. At least, I hoped she would.

She was drawn to Emmett, with his unshakable calm and easy going nature, and had spent the last day and a half with either him or Esme. Jasper was never far away, keeping a close watch on the emotional atmosphere around her.

A knock on my door drew me back to the present and I was surprised to see Jasper standing there. He looked exhausted. I motioned for him to come in.

"How is she?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Calmer. She's with Emmett and Alice. They were watching a movie when I left."

"Is she…"

He nodded before I could finish my sentence. "Definitely. But I don't think she realises it, she doesn't understand. She's young, Carlisle, barely more than a year or two." I could hear the worry in his voice.

Empaths were rare, very rare, and I wondered how I had come to have two of the rarest creatures in existence living under my roof. I sat down on the brown leather sofa and placed my head in my hands. Uncharacteristically, Jasper came and sat beside me. He didn't speak, didn't touch me or offer any comfort other than his presence. I may be the leader of this unconventional group of vampires, but Jasper knew infinitely more about vampires than I did. I knew his knowledge and experience would be invaluable when it came to helping the girl. Once again, I found myself feeling very grateful that he and Alice had found us all those years ago.

"What are we going to do with her?" It was a stupid question, I knew what we were going to do with her. Esme had claimed the girl as her sixth child from the moment she saw her.

"She's barely holding on to her sanity, Carlisle." His tone was defeated. He knew as well as I did that most empaths went mad as newborns. I had often wondered if the only reason Jasper had survived intact was due to his ability to manipulate emotions as well as feel them. We both knew what it would mean if she did go mad, or if she had already.

"Where did she come from?" I asked. Another stupid question.

"I don't know, she doesn't know. She says she doesn't remember."

That was what she had said when I managed to ask her yesterday. I had hoped that something, anything, would come back to her once she calmed down slightly.

Jasper sighed and leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling. He was tired. He hated disclosing any weakness to anyone, but he had once intimated to me that using the manipulation aspect of his gift for long periods of time was tiring. By my estimation, he had been pushing feelings of calm towards our newcomer for over 48 hours now. He needed to rest, but he would never admit such a thing.

I got up and walked to my desk to work on some patient files I had brought home. I had anticipated being able to work through them in a few hours on Friday morning and enjoy a restful weekend. But our weekend hadn't gone exactly as planned.

Jasper watched me, following my every move. I didn't speak, instead just sat at my desk and pulled the first file towards me. I studied it, feeling the immediate sense of peace I felt when I was engaged in my work. I concentrated on that peaceful, content feeling and pushed it towards Jasper. His body slowly started to relax and his eyes closed. Despite appearances, he wasn't sleeping, he couldn't sleep, but I hoped that a few hours of calm would go some way to restore him. On any other occasion when he was feeling so exhausted and overwhelmed, he would run to the woods to be alone. But I knew he would not leave tonight.

 _88888_

I left him alone after an hour or so, insisting that he stay to rest. I went downstairs where I found the girl still watching a movie with Emmett, Rosalie and Alice. She was sitting on the sofa beside Rosalie, Emmett sitting on the floor at their feet and Alice was stretched out in front of the fire. I noticed Rosalie was holding the girl's hand and smiled to myself. Despite all appearances to the contrary, Rosalie was incredibly caring, and I had watched over the last two days as she tried to bring some comfort to the girl, reassuring her without words that we were not a threat.

She was as relaxed as I had ever seen her and I hated that I was about to disturb that. I motioned to the others to give us a few minutes and, muting the television, I came and sat beside her. She shifted awkwardly on the sofa, increasing the distance between us. I wanted to reach for her, comfort her and make her believe that I wasn't a threat, that I wouldn't hurt her. I didn't, instead I watched her as she studied the carpet.

Alice and Rosalie had gone shopping the previous evening and bought her some clothes. Now that she was dressed in clothes that fit her, I could see that she was slim, as slim as Alice, with none of the womanly curves of Rosalie. There was a leanness to her body, suggesting she had been more muscular as an human than any of the girls. She was short too, maybe an inch or two taller than Alice, but certainly dwarfed by the other members of our family. Her blonde hair, a little darker than Rosalie's but just as long, was curly. It reminded me of the wildness of Jasper's hair.

Her eyes, which had been so black just two days ago were lighter, the beginnings of golden brown appearing. There was no sign of redness in her eyes, suggesting that her recent meal was not the first time she had drank animal blood. Either that or it had been an incomprehensibly long time since her last meal.

She glanced up at me, a questioning look in her eyes.

I smiled encouragingly. "Do you want to stay?"

"I don't know where else to go," she said quietly.

When she spoke, her accent brought me back to another life. My human life. Scottish? Irish? At this point, I knew better than to ask. But how had she got here? Half a world away?

"Then stay with us. At least until you can remember where you came from."

 _88888_

Over the coming weeks, we tried to help her remember things about her life. I googled frantically. If Jasper was right, and she had only been turned a year or two ago, there was bound to be something in the news. I turned up a blank; it was hard when she didn't even know her own name or where she had come from. But my googling told me she wasn't local; or if she was local, no-one was looking for her. There had been no missing persons reports that met her description filed in the state, or in Oregon, Idaho or Montana.

Jasper spent a great deal of time with her, trying to help her understand her gift and teaching her ways of coping with feeling what the people around her felt. With his help, she began to change very quickly and once again, I felt sorry for Jasper, who had been forced to learn the subtleties of his gift alone, and in such an inhospitable environment.

Alice found a book of names and spent evenings reading the names aloud, telling her to stop if one sounded familiar. None did. And in the end, Alice started calling her Anna, after the galaxy Andromeda, which Anna had been able to point out one night while they were out hunting.

She remained close to Emmett, drawn to his fun-loving and friendly nature. Emmett was delighted to have found a new friend, and the pair could often be found racing through the woods or playing a rather forceful game of catch that had resulted in more than a few balls crashing through the windows of our house. She smiled often during their games and I could see that, beneath her nervousness, she shared Emmett's playful nature.

Unfortunately, Anna and I had made little progress. The fear on her face and the visible tension in her body each time I entered a room broke my heart. I hated that she feared me, but when she would barely stay in the same room as me for longer than a few seconds, there was little I could do to reassure her that I wouldn't harm her.

 _88888_

I was vaguely aware of someone purring as I worked in my study. I presumed it was Jasper or Alice, sitting on the porch below my window. When I came out into the hallway, I was surprised to find Anna curled up on the window seat at the top of the stairs. She jumped up immediately.

"S-sorry" she stammered, "I wasn't, I didn't mean to…"

I gently shushed her, this was her home too, and she had every right to be wherever she liked, the same as anyone else. She looked down, studying the floor. "You were very calm and content. It was nice."

That was probably the longest sentence Anna had spoken to me since she had arrived in our home, and despite having plans to go hunting with Edward and Emmett, I wasn't about to pass up this opportunity for a conversation with her. I sat down on the window seat, and after a few minutes, she came to sit beside me, taking great care not to touch me.

The purring confirmed to me one important thing about Anna's past. Purring was a learned behaviour; vampires learned it from each other. I hadn't purred for years, and neither Esme, Edward, Emmett or Rosalie purred, since no-one had ever taught them. Jasper and Alice both purred occasionally, Jasper having learned the behaviour from other vampires, and Alice, having learned from him. The fact that Anna could purr told me that she had spent at least some time with other vampires. _But who? And where?_

"Is there anything we can do for you? You know you just have to ask."

She nodded, but didn't say anything. I knew she would never ask.

"You're safe here." I continued gently, "No-one will hurt you, and you can stay here until you remember where you came from."

I hadn't meant it to sound that I was saying she had to remember, and that when she did, she had to leave. The truth was, even though it had only been five weeks, and even thought she was so quiet it was like living with a cat in the house, I couldn't imagine our family without her.

"What if I never remember?" she asked softly "Alice says she doesn't remember." She looked up at me, her golden eyes sad. That was another thing I had noticed about her, she was so expressive of what she was feeling. Not verbally, but if you watched her face, and particularly her eyes, you could see exactly what she was feeling.

"Then you stay here, of course. You can stay here as long as you like. This is your home for as long as you want it."

This was all of their home for as long as they wanted it. Edward, Emmett and Rosalie, had all left and come back at various points over the years. I had always been convinced that Jasper would leave one day, but, so far, he had proved me wrong.

At that moment, Edward came up the stairs. Beside me, I saw Anna's entire body tense. Edward saw it too, and paused before reaching the top step.k

"Emmett and I are…" he stopped, and then answering my unspoken words added, "Another time." He smiled at Anna and turned back down the stairs.

She was intimidated by Edward, as most people are when they first learn about his gift.

"He tries not to pry." I said, "For the most part, he tries to ignore what he 'hears' and gives us as much privacy as he can."

"Jasper said…" she stopped.

 _Jasper said what?_ I wondered. I was very aware of the tensions and dislikes between Edward and Jasper, but I hated thinking that either of them would taint someone else's opinion of the other.

"He said reading helps." She said in a rush.

I nodded. Yes, that was true. If you were reading, and focused on what you were reading, it was harder for Edward to get a read on your thoughts.

"Can you read?" I asked gently.

She nodded. "Jasper lent me a book."

I got up and beckoned her to follow me. I showed her into my study, one wall was entirely shelved and filled from floor to ceiling with books.

"There are a lot of medical texts," I said, pointing to the books closest to my desk "But there is also lots of fiction, some history, some biographies. You're welcome to read whatever you like."

She nodded and tentatively walked towards the shelves. I watched as she lifted down a thin book and began leafing through it. I was surprised to find it was music, probably belonging to Edward at one point.

"Do you play?" I asked

She shrugged. "I don't know. But it looks familiar. I can read it, I know what it says." She started to hum softly.

"Edward plays piano," I offered. "Rosalie can too, and they have been teaching Esme recently. If you like music, you could talk to Edward. He has a vast collection, I'm sure you could find something you like."

The shelves in Edward's room similar to the shelves in my study, only his were floor to ceiling of CDs. Most of his music was now in mp3 format, and stored on a few hard drives, but he still liked to keep the CDs.

"We could ask him to put some music on an ipod for you."

She nodded, "That would be nice."

I knew she would never ask herself, and I made a mental note to speak to Edward when he got home.


	3. Chapter 3

Alice had something on her mind. I could tell, but I knew better than to ask her in front of anyone else. Whatever it was, Edward knew too, having read my fretful thoughts about Alice, and then having plucked whatever was worrying her straight out of her head. In my most vulnerable moments, I hated the bond between the pair of them. I hated that their gifts enabled them to communicate with each other in secret and that sometimes, like right now, Edward had a better idea of what was bothering her than I did. But Alice and I didn't keep secrets from one another, and I knew I just had to be patient.

"She has scars," Alice said. "Like yours."

We were alone, out in the woods, miles from our home and prying ears. Alice explained that while she and Anna were out hunting the previous night, she had noticed bite marks all over the younger vampire's back and arms when they had stopped to swim in a lake before returning home. I was shocked at her words, but didn't question the truth in what she was saying. If anyone knew what bite marks looked like, it was Alice. My mind wandered to thoughts of swimming with Alice. We had only been living in Forks for a few months and still hadn't found all the treasures the forest around our home held. I wondered if Alice could find her way back to this lake…

"Do you think I should tell Carlisle?"

Her words brought me out of my day-dream and I nodded. Carlisle was desperate to help Anna, and would want to know anything that might help piece together her past.

"After I talk to him, we'll go and find the lake." She said with a playful grin.

Once Alice had told Carlisle, they decided to talk to Anna. Although I was reluctant to hear this conversation, and had no desire to see the offending marks, I was drafted in because Anna was still likely to freak out in Carlisle's presence. Even as we walked towards his study, I could feel her trepidation. At various points over the last few weeks they seemed to be making progress and Anna appeared to be slowly beginning to trust him. Then, suddenly, she would go right back to avoiding him. I didn't understand her fear. Don't get me wrong, I hadn't been Carlisle's biggest fan when Alice and had I first arrived here. I had been suspicious of him, and of everyone else, and it had taken me a long time to trust him. But I had never feared him. Even in those early days I had known he was a good man. Anna however, was utterly terrified in his presence. I lightly touched my hand to the small of her back, channelling calm into her body.

I had plenty of experience dealing with frightened and vulnerable vampires, but Anna was something else entirely. I had never seen a vampire so terrified. And the difficulty was her memory loss meant she couldn't tell us what she was frightened of; she just knew that she was frightened. I had never seen memory loss like Anna's either. Sure, Alice remembered nothing of her life prior to waking up in a field alone, but with Alice, it seemed like the memories had simply been erased. With Anna it seemed like she had repressed the memories, not wanting to remember. I wondered if vampires could suffer from PTSD. I saw no reason why not, we are resilient creatures by nature, but even the most resilient creatures have their limits.

Despite knowing Carlisle was waiting for us in his study, she startled when she saw him. Her body immediately tensed and she stopped dead in the doorway, her eyes wide.

"It's okay." I said softly, giving her a gentle nudge into the room. "You're not in trouble." Not for the first time, I wondered what had happened to her that made her so fearful of the most compassionate man I had ever known.

Clearly, Carlisle didn't know where to begin. Neither did I. There was no easy, or appropriate, way to ask a young girl to take her shirt off so that we could look at the scars on her back. Carlisle tried to speak several times but couldn't form the words. Anna looked at me, expectantly, her fear gradually giving way to curiosity.

Finally, Alice spoke. "I saw some scars on your back last night. I was worried, so I told Carlisle. Would it be okay if you showed him?"

In that moment, I felt the most peculiar mix of emotions coming from her. It felt like defeat, surrender, mixed with a more than a hint of betrayal, and her eyes filled with a deeper sadness than anyone should ever feel.

She nodded and, without a word and not meeting our eyes, began to unbutton the checked shirt she was wearing. She stood in front of us, outwardly appearing so impossibly calm. But she felt betrayed. I saw surrender in her eyes, and I felt her acceptance of whatever was coming next.

I couldn't help but wince when I saw her scars. Her back, sides and stomach were covered in dozens of pale, semi-circular scars. Some disappeared beneath the waist band of her jeans and I wondered about the backs of her legs. I counted 34 before I stopped. She had nowhere near the number of scars I had, but seeing them on her perfect skin tore at my heart. Carlisle reached for her, holding her gently by the wrists and turning her arms to get a better look at the scars on her forearms. She visibly tensed at his touch, but gave him no resistance.

"Anna, do you know how these happened?" Carlisle asked gently.

She shook her head, her eyes fixed on the carpet. I could see she was trembling again.

"Do they hurt?" he asked her, tracing the worst marks on her shoulder and upper arm with his finger.

She shook her head again, still not meeting his eyes.

"Thanks, Anna." I murmured, handing her shirt back to her. I had seen enough.

She looked at me with confusion. Her eyes flickered suspiciously between me and Carlisle as she buttoned up her shirt with shaky hands.

Across the room, Alice met my eye. An entire conversation passed between us in no longer than three and a half seconds. She nodded slightly.

"Come on, Anna; let's find something fun to do." She grabbed the tiny blonde girl by the hand and skipped off down the hall. "I know! We could paint your nails!"

I smiled and shook my head; somehow I doubted that was Anna's idea of 'something fun'. But I was glad that, for once, Alice wasn't painting my nails.

I watched them leave and then turned my attention to Carlisle.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

"Those bites," I said, "Some of them are self-inflicted."

He stared at me and I felt his disbelief that someone as sweet and gentle as Anna could feel so terrible she would hurt herself. He had never been able to wrap my head around the idea that someone would hurt themselves deliberately.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"The angle of them. And the size of them. The ones on her lower arms are mostly self-inflicted. The others… someone else did those." I heard my voice turn bitter. I could remember the hot, searing pain I had felt from every bite I had ever received, my entire body burning so intensely I wished I was dead. The idea that Anna had suffered like that, over and over again, was unbearable.

There was something else. I wasn't sure how to word it, and I didn't want to put ideas into Carlisle's head if I was wrong. "Did you notice her reaction when Alice asked her to…" I trailed off.

Carlisle nodded sadly, confirming that he too had noticed how impossibly calm Anna had seemed, and the look of betrayal in her eyes. "I don't think that was the first time she's had to undress in front of someone. Although it is possibly the first time she has been _asked_ to."

The stress he placed on the word 'asked' told me that Carlisle had reached the same conclusion as I had. Someone had hurt her in worse ways than biting.

"What happened to her, Carlisle?" I didn't expect him to answer; we had been asking each other the same question for weeks now. We fell quiet for a moment, lost in feelings of our own helplessness. I wanted to help Anna, we both did. We just didn't know how.

"Could Edward help?" I asked, finally.

I felt his surprise that I had mentioned Edward. There was an unspoken tension between us, and although we would defend each other to the death, we wouldn't choose each other. Like proper brothers, I suppose.

"Wouldn't that be immoral?" he asked hesitantly. He had always discouraged Edward from reading people's minds deliberately, and absolutely discouraged him from sharing anyone's thoughts without their permission.

"I'm not sure we have much choice if we want to help her." I replied.

I left to find Edward. As I passed the kitchen, I found Alice, Anna and Rosalie at the kitchen table, surrounded by little bottles of nail polish in bright colours. Anna was still visibly shaken by our conversation, but neither Rosalie nor Alice drew attention to that, giving Anna a chance to compose herself. Rosalie was filing Anna's nails while Alice asked Anna to choose between three bottles of purple nail polish that looked identical to my untrained eye. Emmett was loitering, clearly wishing Rose and Alice would give Anna back, so they continued whatever game they had been playing earlier. He looked at me, raising his eyebrows expectantly; with a gentle shake of my head I answered his unasked question. _Not now._

Edward and Esme were sitting together at the piano; Esme was playing while Edward quietly instructed her. He met my eye, and after giving Esme's arm a gentle squeeze, he silently followed me back to Carlisle's study.

"What can you tell us about Anna?" Carlisle asked.

Edward was quiet for a moment, clearly uncomfortable at the question. Whatever my feelings towards Edward, I couldn't fault his moral compass. He had a very strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. He was loyal, even to Anna, who he had only known for a little over two months, and who barely spoke to him.

"We just want to help her." Carlisle added.

"To be honest, I can't tell you very much." Edward said. "Sometimes she has brief thoughts where she might be remembering something, or where something might seem familiar, but then it's gone. Like this morning, there was something on the news about New York and it triggered something in her memory. But I don't know if that's because she lived there, visited there or has just seen it on television. Neither does she."

It gave me hope she seemed to be able to recall some things, even if it was only for fleeting moments.

"A few nights ago, we were playing piano," Edward continued, "She started to play something – I can't remember what it was – but memories came flooding back to her, people and places. She could see their faces so clearly but she doesn't know who they are."

I had been surprised to learn Anna was spending time with Edward. She had confided in me that she found him intimidating. The irony wasn't lost on me, that she was drawn to Emmett and me, the two vampires in our family who could probably do her the most harm yet feared Carlisle and Edward. Still, I was grateful she was bonding with Edward over their love of music and I hoped it might help prompt some memories for her.

"She worries that you think she's hiding things and is being deceitful. " Edward added to Carlisle. "She worries that you'll ask her to leave and she doesn't know anywhere else to go. She's scared of being alone."

I had felt her worrying too. "Yeah, she worries a lot. I've just never known what about."

Carlisle nodded and I felt, and shared, his feelings of frustration and relief. Relief that she wasn't hiding anything from us, and frustration that we were no closer to finding out anything about her. But there was something else, something Edward was hiding.

 _88888_

 _What else?_ I asked, silently. _What were you not telling us earlier about Anna?_

We were standing on the back porch a few hours later. In the distance, we could hear Anna and Emmett running through the woods. Alice and Rosalie had finally released her and Emmett had dragged her outside to continue their game. If he had any idea what had gone on earlier, he didn't show it. But despite all appearances to the contrary, Emmett wasn't stupid, nor was he as insensitive as he would lead you to believe. I knew their games were less for Emmett's enjoyment and more about being his way of helping Anna relieve some of the tension and stress she felt living with, and feeling the emotions, of seven other vampires. After all, he had been doing the very same thing for me for decades now. Not one for deep and meaningful conversations or for asking questions, Emmett showed he cared with his actions. It's why Rosalie loves him, and it's why he is my favourite brother.

Beside me, Edward looked conflicted, wrestling with his conscience. "Whatever you were talking to her about… she's scared. She remembers that she… she knows that…"

I watched as Edward struggled to find the words he needed, so unlike someone who was usually so composed. I decided to put him out of his misery, _I know. I know she was raped._

On hearing my thoughts he met my eye and nodded. "She thought… she thinks…"

Edward sighed with frustration and ran his hands through his hair. I wasn't sure whether I should push him to finish his sentence, utterly convinced I didn't want to hear the rest of it.

"Her memories of it are confused. She remembers it, some of it in rather graphic detail." He paused, before finishing softly, "but sometimes… it's him – Carlisle - she sees. She's terrified. Sometimes, she's convinced he's going to…"

I felt sick. How could Anna, or anyone else, think him capable of doing something so despicable. But it went a long way in explaining her nervousness around him.

"I'm sorry." Edward said, his expression pained.

I shook my head, "No, thank you for telling me."

How was I supposed to tell Carlisle this? I ran through the conversation in my mind and I saw his anguished face, the worry and sadness in his eyes. I had never seen Carlisle as worried as he had been over the last couple of months.

"You can't tell him." Edward said, sharply.

"But…"

"No." he said, firmly. "You can't tell him. And you can't talk to her about it either."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he spoke over me. "Nothing good will come from forcing her to talk about it before she is ready. You should know that better than anyone."

I couldn't argue with that. Edward had known all about my past long before I had been ready to talk about it. There were still things I hadn't told anyone, and I knew Edward hadn't breathed a word to a single soul. Not even to Carlisle.

"You have to keep her secrets, Jasper. For now, anyway."

He looked me in the eye, not looking away until I finally nodded. I would keep Anna's secrets; and Edward would keep her secrets, as he had been keeping mine.

As he turned to walk back into the house, I added a silent _thank you._ He had been keeping the worst memories of my past hidden for years, and in that moment, I appreciated it more than ever. Now that I understood what it cost him to keep someone's terrible secrets.


	4. Chapter 4

Months passed and Anna stayed with us. We fell in love with her and none of us could imagine our family without her. Although she was still shy, and could be skittish in my company, we saw more and more of her sweet and fun-loving nature.

Jasper and I never spoke to her about our belief that she had been raped. I had never liked pushing anyone to talk, always believing that it only led to resentment when they felt they had been forced to give up their secrets before they were ready. Pushing her to talk before she was comfortable would probably destroy the fragile trust between us. And I was under no illusions that the trust Anna had in me was fragile. The smallest thing, from me startling her if I approached out of her line of vision or if I even slightly raised my voice in her presence, could set us back weeks. But I continued to hope she would feel able to talk eventually. And being vampires, time was on our side.

Jasper had asked her again about the bite marks and he remained confident the ones on her arms were self-inflicted. Although she didn't remember, he suspected that she had bitten herself when the emotions around her became too painful to bear, reasoning that she had probably previously lived in a much larger, and therefore more emotionally chaotic, coven. It didn't make sense to me. How could causing physical pain make it easier to cope with emotional pain? With an awkward smile, Jasper had explained that, sometimes, the emotions in large groups can be so overwhelming you don't know which feelings are yours and which belong to other people. You need something to ground you, something to focus on. And when you are surrounded by such strong feelings of boredom, lust, worry, fear, joy, sadness, often the only thing you could focus on was physical pain.

"I'm sorry, Jasper." I said, as I realised he was, once again, speaking from experiences I couldn't begin to fathom, and I understood that there was much he had never told me about his past.

"It was a long time ago." He said with a shrug.

He continued to keep a watchful eye on Anna, and when no new bite marks appeared on her arms, he was content that she was learning better ways to cope with living her life in a constant climate of emotion.

 _88888_

A ball came hurtling through the window, missing Edward's head by mere millimetres as he sat at his piano. That brought the count of broken windows into the double figures in this week alone.

"Emmett!" There was a warning tone to my voice as Esme and I made our way out to the back porch. We hadn't reached the door when we heard two voices call out in unison.

"It was Jasper!"

"It was Anna!"

The three of them stood at the edge of the tree line, Anna quite close to Emmett and Jasper a distance away from them. She was still pointing at Jasper, looking at him with a mischievous grin, while Emmett pointed at Anna. Emmett looked at me with an extremely pleased expression on his face and Jasper stared at Anna, opened mouthed.

"That's new." Esme murmured softly.

It was new, and it was a welcome new. It was so welcome that I didn't bother telling them to fix the damage and, in that moment, I would have been happy to let them destroy the entire house as they continued their game.

Before Anna, when one of Emmett and Jasper's games had gone wrong, they had each pointed the finger at the other. It was all in good natured, and it made it impossible to know who had caused the damage. Once Anna started to join their games, Emmett took the blame when things went wrong. Particularly when it was just him and Anna, and even though I was fairly confident he wasn't always the cause. I remember the first time one or other of them had sent a ball crashing though one of the picture windows at the back of the house. Anna had literally hidden behind Emmett, practically vibrating with fear. She had been more than a little reluctant to play for a while after that, but Emmett eventually wore her down and it wasn't long before she was back to joining him in games only the pair of them understood. The fact that today, Anna hadn't hidden, and had actually joined in the blame game was a massive step forward. Progress with Anna was slow, but it was in moments like this that I realised just how far she had come.

Emmett ran towards us to retrieve the ball. "Told you," he said with a grin as he passed us.

I couldn't help but return his grin as Esme and I turned to go back inside. The changes in Anna were in no small way down to Emmett. I began to wonder if he hadn't created some of the chaos and caused some of the damage to show her how I would react. And when I didn't get angry or hurt him, she was slowly beginning to realise she had nothing to fear. Between the pair of them, they had broken more windows than I can count, destroyed countless of Esme's newly planted flowers and crashed Rosalie's car at least twice.

Emmett had pursued her relentlessly, and as the months had gone on, their games became more physical. He was the first of us whom she had freely allowed to touch her. He would walk into a room to find her standing somewhere, pick her up and set her down in another part of the room, insisting she was in his way. In the beginning, it was clear she didn't like it, although she didn't complain. Over time, she became more comfortable with him and I had even seen her try to stand up to him, using all her strength to prevent him from moving her. It was another one of those changes in Anna that occurred so gradually I had barely noticed it.

Over time, she became more open to allowing the others to touch her too, and was happy for Alice or Esme to greet her with a hug. Like everyone else in our family, she was drawn to Esme's warm and loving nature and was happy to sit in the same room as my wife for hours at a time.

I was thrilled when she stopped fleeing from a room the moment I entered, and as the weeks and months passed, she appeared to be becoming more relaxed with me and began to talk to me more. Never about anything particularly important, mostly about books she was reading or patients I was treating in the hospital. Physically, she kept her distance from me, but I couldn't deny the progress we were making.

She was a tomboy, and often joined Emmett and I to watch football games but was still happy, and willing, to accompany Alice and Rosalie on various shopping trips. She was becoming more vocal about her likes and dislikes. She had her own sense of style, quite different from the other two.

There still remained a little tension between her and Edward. They continued to play piano together and share music. She was talented, though not as gifted as Edward. She was keen to learn from him and he was only too happy to teach her. I had noticed though, that sometimes they played together quite frequently and then she would barely meet his eye for weeks. During these phases, Edward adhered to her silent requests for space and I wondered briefly if he was reading something in her mind that she wasn't ready to share with the rest of us.

She and Jasper stayed close, and it was to him she turned when the emotions in our home became too much for her. And Jasper was grateful to have someone who understood what it was like to live in a sea of emotion. The atmosphere around them changed like the weather, sometimes subtle changes and sometimes cataclysmic shifts that left them feeling fraught and exhausted. Ever patient with her, Jasper taught her ways to calm down when it was all getting too much for her. And when it did get too much for her, he ran with her, sometimes all the way to the coast and then he stood beside her until she felt ready to come home.

 _88888_

I came home from the hospital and found her watching television. I was about to join her when I remembered I had small drops of a patient's blood on my shirt. She had surprised us all with the self-control she had shown, and appeared to have little desire to feed off humans, seeming entirely content with animals. But the sight and smell of even a trace of blood was enough to get venom flowing for most vampires, and there was no sense subjecting her to needless temptation.

After I had showered and changed into fresh clothes, I found her, still sitting on the sofa, her legs drawn up towards her chin and her arms wrapped around her knees. I sat on one of the chairs in the corner. She smiled and tried to hand me the remote control. I shook my head, indicating that we could keep watching. A travel programme featuring some beautiful shots of green landscapes, the Wicklow Mountains, according to the narrator.

"It looks beautiful," I said after a few moments.

She nodded. "It is. But I preferred the mountains in Donegal. Or the Galway and Mayo area. It's more wild and rugged. Although it's probably the wettest place on Earth." She smiled and glanced out the window at the sheets of rain falling from the sky. "Actually, I think Forks might win that competition."

I gave her a questioning look. This was how we found out things about Anna, and how we were gradually beginning to piece together her life. Every now and again, she revealed something without realising she was doing it.

"How do you know that? Did you live there?" There was no accusation in my tone; I knew she wasn't trying to deliberately hide things from us. It seemed she remembered things without realising she was remembering them. She was frustrated that she couldn't remember more, and Edward confided to me that she still worried I would think she was being deceitful.

She frowned and bit her lip, thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah," she said, sounding a little uncertain, "I think I did."

I nodded and turned my attention back to the television. There was no sense in pushing the issue. I believed she would tell me whatever she remembered.

 _88888_

Summer was ending, which meant school would be starting up soon. We had initially toyed with the idea of only enrolling Edward and Alice as seniors, and for Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie to take some college classes or find jobs nearby. It would mean only staying in Forks for a couple of years, but that was okay. Or it had been okay. Over the summer, we had all grown to like the place, and we loved our new home. Then there was Anna to think of. Much as I hated the thought of losing her, I had to be prepared for the day someone came looking for her. As she had gradually relaxed into our family, her gentle, loving nature became more evident. Someone had loved her, or she would not be nearly so sweet.

In the end, we decided to enrol all six of them in school. That way, we would be able to stay here for a bit longer. We got more than a few raised eyebrows when Esme and I went to enrol six teenagers in Forks High School, but it was nothing we weren't prepared for. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Edward, Emmett and Alice Cullen were our adopted children. Rosalie and Jasper Hale were twins, the children of Esme's deceased sister. We had debated whether Anna should become the younger sibling of the Hale twins or the fourth adopted Cullen child. In the end, she became Anna Cullen.

Unlike the others, this seemed to be her first time through high school, lending support to my theory that she couldn't have been much older than 16 or 17 when she was changed. As it was a first for her, she appeared to enjoy it more than the others. She was keen to learn, and she was undoubtedly bright. She was particularly gifted at maths and science and could often be found doing Emmett's homework in the evenings.

Jasper had been dismayed to find that she knew almost nothing about American history and took it upon himself to teach her all about the American Civil War. The others spent many evenings wanting to bang their heads off the walls as they listened to his stories yet again. However, she captured all of our interests when Jasper began asking questions about Irish history, and she taught us all about the plantations, the famine, the Easter Rising and the partition of Ireland.

She still remembered little of her life before Jasper and Emmett found her. But as more time passed, it mattered less and less that she didn't remember.

It would be almost a year before anyone would come looking for Anna. I should have been prepared for it, we all should have been prepared for the day someone came looking for her, who could fill in the gaps of her past.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you for all the reviews and follows - it's so encouraging! Just to answer a couple of questions: Anna is not Bella, she's an original character. And she's not intended to be a mate for Edward :)**

There was a storm, and we were playing baseball in a clearing in the woods. It was raining hard and the howling winds and the rattles of thunder disguised the sound of our game.

Alice hadn't seemed herself for a few days now, I knew her well enough to know a vision was bothering her. When I asked about it, she said she was having fleeting visions of someone visiting us. She didn't know who they were or what they wanted. And she couldn't tell how far away this potential visitor was, or whether they intended us any harm. It never once occurred to me that the visitor was looking for Anna.

We had been playing for about three hours, making the most of the storm and the accompanying thunder. Our clothes were soaked and clung to our bodies and we had long since stopped keeping score. The game had turned into challenging one another to outrun Edward. No one was much contest for him; none of us could match his speed. It had surprised us all a few months ago to find that Anna was able to keep pace with him at a sprint, but she didn't have the stamina to keep up for longer distances and she had never been able to outrun him, despite Jasper and Emmett's best coaching.

I watched as she chased after the ball, Emmett close behind her. She jumped and stretched up to reach the ball, and as she did, Emmett reached up behind her, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her back to the ground. They landed with a thud and Emmett tossed her to the side. He grinned at her, and she grinned back, struggling to her feet as they continued their pursuit of the ball. She would never reach it now, but she wouldn't give up either. She jumped on Emmett's back as he continued to run after the ball. He laughed and shook her off, flinging her to the ground. It was all in good fun, and I knew he wasn't being rough with her, despite how it looked to see the tiny vampire being thrown around the clearing by someone of Emmett's size.

"Be gentle!" Rosalie chastised him, offering Anna a hand to help her off the ground.

"Aw, we're just playing!" Emmett replied, giving Anna another gentle push as she got to her feet.

It happened in an instant. Jasper flew across the clearing to where Alice stood, Edward following close behind. Immediately, Edward knew what Alice had seen. Their ability to communicate with one another was uncanny at times. Edward came over to where I stood with Rosalie and Esme and softly told us what Alice had seen. The visitor was coming. For Anna. And he was angry.

At the mention of her name, Anna abandoned her game with Emmett.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Edward looked at me, unsure what to tell her, or whether to tell her at all. _Did we have enough time to get her out of here?_ In the end, the decision was taken out of our hands. A tall vampire with red eyes appeared at the other end of the clearing. Jasper and Alice moved closer to us, Alice visibly upset by what she had seen. Esme moved towards Alice, placing a comforting arm around her waist. On my other side, Emmett, Edward and Rosalie positioned themselves in a protective stance around Anna. No one needed to be told what was going on. The vampire was here for Anna. Our Anna. I felt dread course through my body, gathering in a knot in my stomach as I realised just how badly I didn't want to lose her. A couple of seconds later, it was followed by a sense of calm. Jasper.

"Alana!" the stranger called.

Anna flinched at the sound of the name and the voice that called it. Rosalie moved closer to her and held her hand as she began to shake violently. I could see Edward looking at her, his face bore a pained expression as he saw flashes of the memories that were suddenly flooding through Anna's mind. Horrible memories. _What had happened to her?_

"Samuel." She whispered the name so softly, I barely heard her.

He approached us in long confident strides, fury evident in his blood red eyes. Almost in unison, the six of us took a step forward, forming a protective wall in front of Anna and Rosalie. Jasper didn't take his eyes of Anna as he fought against her terror to keep her calm.

I stepped forward and introduced myself. "My name is Carlisle. This is my family, Esme, Alice and Jasper," I said gesturing to my left. "And Emmett and Anna, Rosalie and Edward."

"That's _my_ Alana." He growled out the words, sounding like a toddler in the throes of a tantrum. It struck me in that moment that the name we had come to know the girl as was so close to her real name.

"Come, Alana!" he shouted, looking at her. Behind me, I heard the gentle rustling of leaves as Edward and Emmett changed their stance. Anna didn't move.

"Now, Alana!" he shouted again.

He started towards her, I heard Jasper give a low growl. In one quick, fluid movement, Samuel pushed past Edward and I and grabbed Anna by the arm. If I though Emmett had been rough with Anna earlier, it was nothing compared to what I would see now. He pulled her towards him with such force, I heard a loud crack and flinched as I realised he had dislocated her elbow. He flung her to the ground and kicked her. It happened so quickly and I was so taken aback that it took me a moment to react. Jasper's growl grew louder as he and Emmett, in perfect sync with each other, leapt into the small space between where Samuel stood and where Anna lay on the ground.

Samuel easily pushed past them both and grabbed Anna by the arm, pulling her along the wet grass. She struggled against him and in one easy, effortless movement; he picked her up and sank his teeth into her side. Anna screamed and thrashed in his arms but he didn't let go.

Edward and I started towards them as Emmett jumped on Samuel, wrestling him to the floor. He released his hold on Anna for a split second and Jasper grabbed her, hauling her to her feet and pushing her towards Edward and I. Edward put his arm around her and led her backwards a few steps. Rosalie was immediately at her side. I could see she was trembling, terrified and in excruciating pain. _What had he done to her?_ The earlier calm l had felt from Jasper was replaced by a fury more intense than I had ever felt before. It took a moment for me to realise that the fury was my own, and had nothing to do with Jasper. My venom started to flow. I hated this vampire. I hated him for hurting Anna, and for the first time in my life, I wanted to cause someone pain.

Samuel fought to his feet and stood, facing Emmett, Jasper and me.

"She's mine!" He roared. "I made her. She's mine."

"You're not getting her." Emmett growled.

"Ha," he spat. "I have unfinished business with her. She's coming with me."

"That will have to stay unfinished. She's staying with us." That was Edward, who had moved to stand beside Jasper.

"Oh, do you want her for yourself?" Samuel asked Edward, with a smirk. "Give her to me and you can all have a turn."

"You sick fuck." Edward growled back.

Edward obviously knew more than the rest of us. But it didn't matter. What I had seen, and what I already knew, was enough; how terrified she had been when we first found her, the bite-marks all over her body; and today, watching him break her bones, drag her around and bite into her flesh. No one deserved to be treated like that.

Without warning, Samuel leapt in the air, landing where Esme, Alice and Rosalie knelt on the ground with Anna. Alice was on her feet instantly, but he effortlessly threw her to one side and again grabbed Anna from Rosalie's grip. I felt sick at how rough he was with her. He kicked her to make her move forward, and when she struggled, he bit her again, this time on her shoulder. Her piercing scream tore through the air. He kicked her again and again. Then he picked her up and ran through the clearing towards the trees.

Edward was quickly on his heels, followed by Emmett and Jasper. Alice and I took off after them too but they moved so fast we soon lost them. We followed their scent as best we could but by now they were probably miles ahead of us. We kept running. Then suddenly, Edward came hurtling through the woods towards us, pulling Anna by the hand.

"Let's go." he said.

"Jasper." said Alice, trying to take off in the direction Edward had come from.

Edward grabbed her arm and shook his head, "He won't want you to see."

Neither of us needed to ask any more, we both knew that Jasper and Emmett were destroying this vampire, and part of me wanted to join them in the task.

We began our journey back towards the clearing. Esme and Rosalie met us half way, and together, the six of us made our way back to the house. Once we were home, we all went to change into clean, dry clothes. Rosalie and Alice helped Anna to shower and change. I had just come out of my and Esme's bedroom after changing when I met Rosalie coming out of Anna's bedroom.

"She's waiting for you."

I nodded. I was dreading this, remembering the last time I had tended to her injuries. She trusted me now; she knew I wouldn't hurt her intentionally. At least, I hoped she knew.

"Carlisle, if you hurt her, I will kill you."

Her words took me by surprise, and for a moment I thought she was joking. One look at her beautiful face, filled with rage told me she was serious.

"Oh, Rose. I won't hurt her. Of course I won't hurt her." I replied, and then added silently, _And I'll never hurt you either._

She let out a long sigh, "I know." She took a step towards me and rested her head on my shoulder, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Just be gentle with her."

I held beautiful Rosalie tightly, "I will, of course I will." I whispered to her, thinking how unfair it was that they had both suffered so much.

Edward joined me and we found Anna sitting on the floor of her bedroom, waiting for me to assess her injuries.

"What hurts?" I asked.

"Everything."

I knew this was no exaggeration. The venom from Samuel's bites would have spread through her entire body by now, bringing with it an intense feeling of burning. There was nothing I could do to stop it, or to help to ease the pain she was in. Since she was unable to tell me what specifically hurt, I did a quick top to toe exam to determine the extent of her injuries. And her injuries were extensive. In addition to her dislocated elbow, her arm was broken, as was her leg and every finger in her right hand. He had bitten her three times, once on her side and twice on her shoulder.

I decided to start with the bites. There was nothing I could do now that the bites were a few hours old, but I needed to at least feel like I was doing something to help. The bites were red and the skin was raised. The ones on her upper arm were very clean. Two quick snaps, leaving perfect semi-circles of teeth. The one on her side was worse, it criss-crossed with a few older scars, and her flesh was torn. It would take longer to heal. As the wound was open, I decided to try to clean it out and put a dressing on it. The doctor in me was worried about infection; the vampire in me knew it couldn't get infected.

I heard Jasper and Emmett arrive home and head for showers and fresh clothes as I took my time cleaning and dressing the bites. She knew what was coming next, and neither of us were looking forward to it. I would need someone to hold her down. Even though she trusted me now, and knew I wouldn't hurt her, as soon as she started feeling pain, her survival instincts would kick in and she would thrash and struggle and do everything in her power to escape me. I had learned not to underestimate the strength in that tiny body of hers.

Reading my thoughts, Edward left to find Jasper.

I felt anxiety gather in my stomach, and I tried to keep myself calm for Anna's sake. Then I felt her hand gently squeeze my arm. I looked at her, surprised that she had initiated the contact when she usually went to such lengths to avoid my touch. She smiled timidly, barely meeting my eye. I felt an overwhelming surge of affection for the little vampire in front of me. Although she could feel the emotions of those around her, she was unable to influence emotions like Jasper could. But despite the physical pain she was in and the emotional turmoil she was feeling, she was concerned about how I felt and was offering what comfort she could. I returned her smile and, without thinking, placed my hand on her shoulder, amazed at how far we had come when she didn't flinch or move away.

Jasper appeared at the door, Edward following behind him, closing the door softly as they both entered the room. Anna smiled meekly at Jasper and without a word, he moved towards her. He sat on the floor beside her, and moved her so her back resting against his chest, his arms firmly wrapped around her shoulders.

"This will hurt." I said gently, "But I promise, I'm doing it to help. I don't want to hurt you."

"I know." She whispered softly.

I started with her leg, which once again was broken in two places, possibly due to some residual weakness from her previous injuries. She squirmed and fought against Jasper but was considerably calmer than she had been the last time I had been forced to do this. I moved to her arm next. Popping her elbow back into place was easy and then I fixed her fingers. She yelped from the pain, but each time she held her hand back out towards me so I could fix the next one.

When I had finished, she lay back against Jasper and closed her eyes. Jasper, who hated physical contact with anyone other than Alice, didn't move. He gently soothed her with feelings of calm and peacefulness and at one point.

Then she opened her eyes and moved away from Jasper. She let out a long sigh, "I suppose I have to tell you what happened to me."

I reached for her hand. "You don't have to if you don't want to." I hoped that she would tell me, but I didn't want to add to her distress by insisting she tell me right now.

"No, you deserve to know." She said, her voice thick with emotion, "You have all been so good to me." She glanced towards the door and for a split second I was filled with a terrible fear that she would run.

She took a deep breath and began to tell us her story. She told us how she had been travelling home from her grandparent's house one night with her parents. It was a stormy night and the road took them along the coast. Her father, a bad tempered man who was too fond of alcohol, was arguing with her mother and lost control of the car. Samuel, drawn by the scent of their blood, arrived at the scene of the crash just a few minutes later. Her parents were already unconscious. She watched in horror as he drank the blood from their bodies and moved towards her.

She felt a terror unlike anything she had ever felt before. And then nothing but pain. She woke up a few days later, Samuel told her that her parents were dead and that she was now a vampire. "I wondered why he had saved me. He told me I was special and that I could help him." She shrugged, "He was nice to me and I was naive enough to believe him. I never once questioned what he thought was so special about me, or what I would be helping him with."

He brought her to America. They swam from Ireland out into the Atlantic where they managed to jump onto a cargo ship, bound for New York. It was then that he became cruel, abusing her and biting her when she 'misbehaved'. In an attempt to keep her weak, he forced her to feed on animal blood. She had never tasted human blood. She was attracted to the scent of course, but like Rosalie, she found it easier to resist because she had never tasted it.

She hadn't realised it at the time, but feeling the emotions of the other vampires in Samuel's large coven caused her to act strangely. She hadn't understood what she was feeling, and just had an overwhelming desire to be alone. When she tried to run, Samuel viewed this as disobedience and punished her. As a result, she learned other ways of coping with what she was feeling. She glanced at Jasper and I noticed she started the play with the sleeves of the grey hoodie she was wearing, pulling the fabric down over her hands.

He had done other things to her too. When she reached this point of her story she began to cry, unable to continue. Again she looked towards the door, and when I followed her gaze, I found Edward was still standing there. He moved closer to us and continued with Anna's story. I found it mildly funny that the one person in our family who had most intimidated her and who she had avoided the most, was the one who knew all her secrets.

Edward told us how Samuel had raped her numerous times. He was the leader of a coven of particularly vicious vampires, and his position was a delicate one and power struggles were common. Anna's role was to help him keep the others under control. He gave her to other vampires in his coven when he wanted to reward them. Or when he wanted to punish Anna. They used her in the cruellest ways, acting out sordid fantasies with her. Eventually, they stopped waiting for Samuel's permission and sought her out whenever they felt like it. Samuel didn't stop them, often joining them. She was repeatedly raped and beaten. Her life became an unending cycle of recovering from an attack and waiting for the next one. One night, after a group of vampires had been particularly brutal, they left her for dead. Edward was clearly in pain as he recounted this part of Anna's story. His eyes were dark and fixed on the corner of the room.

Anna gave him a sad smile and continued. "I woke up to find someone standing over me, telling me I had to run. I can't remember his name, but he was a gentle soul. At least, he was gentle compared to the others. He never seemed to enjoy… He seemed to hate it. Unlike the others."

She trailed off and was quiet for a moment. "He told me I wasn't the first Samuel had used liked this. But eventually, they would grow tired of me and he would find someone else. He would have no use for me then and there would be not point keeping me alive." She fell quiet again. "So I ran. I had no idea where I was running to. I didn't even know where I was. We had moved so many times since arriving in New York. I ran until I was exhausted. Then I woke in a forest to the sound of you and Emmett moving through the trees." she said, giving Jasper a small smile.

None of us spoke for a while. I don't think any of us knew what to say, I certainly didn't.

"I didn't remember most of this until I saw him." She said softly. I caught the implication of her words and I watched as Jasper and Edward exchanged a look.

"I'm sorry," she said, softly.

"You don't need to be sorry." I reassured her. "None of this was your fault, you haven't done anything wrong."

She shook her head, "I know you would never… but when I first got here I thought you… I'm so sorry."

Deep down, I had always known why Anna feared me. She had expected the same treatment from me as she had received from Samuel. Like most vampires, her memories of her human life were vague but I suspected she had been treated poorly by her father too. Why should she presume anything different from me? But hearing her say it, or almost say it, was agonising.

I opened my mouth to reassure her again, but Jasper got there first.

"It's okay, we know." He said softly, placing an arm around her shoulder.

"Will you tell the others?" she asked softly, looking up at me through her dark eyelashes.

"Do you want me to?" I asked, surprised.

She was thoughtful for a moment and then said "They should know too. I just don't think I can do it."

"Carlisle and I will tell them. You don't have too." Edward answered.

I nodded, and for the first time all evening, she met my eye. Her eyes, usually so bright, were dark and heavy. Pain and tiredness was part of it, but I knew another part was hunger. Jasper's eyes had a similar look and I wondered if I should go hunting with them both and leave Edward to tell the others about Anna's story. But that hardly seemed fair; Edward was so clearly struggling with what had happened to Anna.

As though he could read my thoughts too, Jasper got to his feet. "Anna and I should hunt."

I watched as they ran towards the woods without glancing back, leaving Edward and I with the unenviable task of telling the others what had happened to Anna. I put my hand on Edward's shoulder as we walked down the stairs to the others and I wondered how long he had been silently carrying Anna's secrets.

They were waiting for us. Emmett and Rosalie sitting side by side at two of the bar stools in the kitchen we had never used. Emmett looked as exhausted as Jasper and Anna did and I briefly wondered if I should have sent him hunting with them. Alice and Esme were on their feet immediately.

"Where are they?" Alice asked, trying to look past Edward.

"Hunting," Edward answered, as Alice gave him a hug.

They watched me quietly and, finally, I began to recount Anna's story as best I could. Edward broke in from time to time. Anna had kept nothing from us, and I knew she wouldn't want us to keep anything from the others, much as I wanted to spare them the pain of knowing what I now knew. I was confident we weren't telling them anything they didn't already know, or didn't already suspect. Esme and I had had many conversations about my concerns and fears for Anna over the past year. There was nothing Alice and Jasper didn't share with each other and I wondered how much of this Alice had foreseen. I wasn'r sure how much Edward had known before today, certainly more than the rest of us, and he would have heard our troubled thoughts about her too.

That left Rosalie and Emmett. After my brief conversation with Rosalie earlier, I was certain she had known. But I didn't know if Anna had confided in her, or if Rosalie had seen something of herself in the younger girl. Fiercely loyal, Rosalie had become very protective of Anna and I knew she wouldn't have given up Anna's secrets to anyone, possibly not even to Emmett. But Emmet was much wiser and more perceptive than he pretended to be and I wondered if he recognised something in Anna that he also saw in Rosalie.


	6. Chapter 6

Anna was reluctant to stray too far. I couldn't blame her for that. We found some deer and sat on the grass, our backs resting against a fallen tree. If I looked through the trees I could just about make out the lights from our house. I could feel the faintest hints of rage, sadness and shock as Carlisle and Edward told our family what Anna had just told us. I wondered if she could feel it too. I hoped she could, and that she would know that a group of vampires a few hundred yards away were getting worked up into a furious frenzy because of what Samuel had dared do to her. And even if it was only what he had done to her today, and we never knew what had happened to her before, it would still be enough to provoke the same reaction.

I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Like Alice, her small physique and gentle nature made her seem in need of protecting. But like Alice, I knew she could more than hold her own. I could hardly wrap my head around how someone could be so cruel to such a sweet little vampire. But I knew more than most how cruel vampires could be.

I had never felt so protective of someone before; I had been furious for months at the thought that someone had hurt her. And now that I knew the extent of what Samuel had done to her, part of me wished his death had been slower and more painful.

Of course I felt protective of Alice too, and I wouldn't think twice about killing anyone who tried to harm her. But with Anna, it was different. When I tried to explain it to Emmett he had laughed and told me that was how big brothers were supposed to feel about their little sisters. I had been stunned to learn he felt the same way about Alice. And I had been even more surprised to find Edward felt the same way about Anna as I did. That had been a huge shock. We had been in the cafeteria at school one day, just me and Edward. Anna walked in with a boy from one of her classes who talking to her, flirting with her to be precise. When Edward caught sight of them across the room he started to growl, a low rumbling that sounded like far away thunder. I had kicked him under the table to make him stop. Whilst I could feel the boy's lust for my little sister, Edward could hear his thoughts. I honestly wasn't sure which was worse.

Beside me, Anna played with the strings of her hoodie and chewed on her lip, as she always did when she was feeling anxious. I made no effort to help her feel more relaxed. Sometimes you just had to let people feel how the really felt, as painful and unpleasant as that could be at times.

"Do you – do you think he'll come back?"

"No, he won't come back." I said evenly.

"How do you…" she trailed off, realisation dawning in her eyes. He wouldn't come back because Emmett and I had destroyed him.

She sighed and I understood the confused and mixed emotions she was feeling. Samuel was her creator, and no matter what he had done to her, there was a bond between them. It was the same as me and Maria. No matter what she had done to me and what she had made me do, if something were to happen to her, I would grieve for her. The others, who had been created by Carlisle, wouldn't understand this but I did. I wondered if I should tell her my story. Would it help her to feel less alone to know she wasn't the only one who had been mistreated by a vampire? In the end I decided not to, at least not yet. She had enough to be dealing with without me adding my past traumas.

"You're safe here. You know that, don't you?" I asked.

"I know."

We were both safe here; and sometimes I needed to remind myself that I was safe too. I knew that some members of our family had always expected me to leave. They thought I missed my old life and that I was only here for Alice. That wasn't true. I would be forever thankful I had found Alice and that she had brought us here. This family was more than I deserved and I genuinely enjoyed this life. I liked not having to fight for my survival. I liked knowing that Carlisle was the decision maker, and he would always decide what was best for us, and I was happy to defer to him.

"Do you think Carlisle will let me stay?" she asked softly, looking at me with her golden eyes.

"Of course he will! Why would you think he wouldn't?" I asked, genuinely confused by her question.

"He was angry." She answered, simply.

"Not with you!" I protested.

"No," she insisted. "He got angry when I tried to tell him that I thought…"

Again she trailed off and didn't finish the sentence. I watched her for a moment, trying to decide whether it was best to pursue this conversation or if I should give her more time to talk about it on her own terms. Something told me it was now or never.

"You think he was angry with you when you told him you thought he was going to hurt you." I said, "The way Samuel hurt you."

She met my eye and gave a tiny nod, still chewing furiously on her lip.

I shook my head and gave her arm a gentle squeeze, "He wasn't angry with you," I said again.

I had never felt such anger from Carlisle as I had felt today. But none of it was directed at Anna. Like the rest of us, he loved Anna and he had been furious to see Samuel hurt her, and to learn what he had done to her before we found her. I knew that if he had been able to catch up with Emmett and me earlier, he would have destroyed Samuel himself. Not that I would have let that happen. I could never allow Carlisle to end up with blood on his hands. It was okay for me to do it; I'd done it before, many, many times. But I couldn't let Carlisle become what I was.

I tried to reassure her that Carlisle understood, we all understood. She had been through something unbelievably traumatic, and even if she hadn't been dealing with the resulting memory loss and confusion, it was understandable she would be wary and suspicious. But I wondered why it had been Carlisle she had been so frightened of. Why not me? Or Emmett? Reasoning I had nothing to lose, I decided to ask.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I know it doesn't make any sense." She was quiet for a moment, and then explained to me that the first fleeting flashbacks of being raped occurred when Carlisle first fixed her leg. "It was barely for a second, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Then the memories kept coming back, always when he was around. Part of me knew it wasn't real, but another part of me was afraid that it was real and it was only a matter of time..."

"But you know now that he would never hurt you, don't you?"

She nodded. "I know."

I knew she believed Carlisle wouldn't hurt her, but I felt her guilt and shame that she had ever thought he would.

"I'm glad you found me." She said, timidly, after a few moments.

"Me too." I smiled, giving her a playful nudge.

She laid her head against my shoulder and closed her eyes. I put my arm around her and rested my head on her head. Slowly her anxious feelings began to subside, with no help from me. We sat there, in the quiet of the dark woods, and I gathered together all the love and affection I had ever felt our family feel towards her, and me, and we basked in the love of our family.

I felt them coming towards us before I heard them. Carlisle, Emmett and Rosalie. We got to our feet as they approached. Emmett went straight to Anna and, picking her up, gave her a huge bear hug. He squeezed her so tightly I was sure he would crush her bones. I couldn't help but smile as I watched him, sure, he could be loud and boisterous and sometimes it seemed he didn't think before putting his mouth in gear, but he was warm and kind and caring.

Rosalie looked me up and down, "You look like shit."

I grinned at her. To anyone else, her words would seem harsh and unnecessary, but Rosalie and I had our own way of communicating our affection for one another. Of everyone in our family, she and I had been the only ones who understood how cruel people and vampires could be. We had spoken to each other only once, years ago, about the horrors in our pasts. Since neither of us liked admitting weakness, we never mentioned our conversation again and our unspoken rule was to show our affection and concern for each other in unconventional ways that no-one else quite understood.

"Come on, Anna," Rosalie said, "Let's go home."

I watched as the two of them made their way up through the woods towards our house, arm in arm, and felt a fierce rush of love for my two sisters, who had both been hurt so deeply. I thought how fortunate all three of us were to have found ourselves here.

I turned to Carlisle, who was looking at me expectantly. Beside him, Emmett looked sheepish and I knew what was coming.

"Traitor." I said with a smirk.

Emmett stuck his tongue out at me and followed the girls back up to the house. I watched as he gave Anna a poke in the ribs and then pushed his way in between them both, one arm around Rosalie's waist, the other around Anna's shoulder.

I moved closer to where Carlisle stood. I had long since stopped resisting him when he tried to help me. Although I didn't like being touched, I had learned that he only ever had my best interests at heart.


	7. Chapter 7

I shouldn't have been surprised when Emmett told me he and Jasper had got hurt in their struggle with Samuel. I should have been paying better attention and known that neither of them could have escaped completely unscathed.

Samuel had strength to rival Emmett and speed to rival Edward. He had come as a surprise to us, but we had come as an equal surprise to him. He hadn't been expecting anyone to fight for Anna, or Alana I suppose she was really. In the end, it was the surprise factor that led to his downfall. Emmett had managed to wrestle Anna from his grip and shove her towards Edward who, without a backwards glance, took off at full speed with her. He had been confident his brothers would be more than capable of dealing with Samuel. I had been too, until I saw the bites on Emmett's back.

"Don't worry about it; you had your hands full with Anna. And anyway, I've had much worse." Jasper said, sensing my guilt.

He pushed his sleeves up, showing me the fresh bites on his arms. Like the one on Anna's side, these were much worse than mere snaps. The flesh had been badly torn, but even after just a few hours, it was starting to heal. I felt awful that he had helped me earlier with Anna when he would have been in such pain and discomfort himself. But that was Jasper, always pushing his own needs to the side for someone else, even when it was to his detriment.

"You should have told me." I said, as he pulled his sleeves back down.

He shrugged. I knew he didn't see the point of telling me. There was nothing I could have done to help. I hated feeling helpless.

"Emmett told you we destroyed him?" He asked.

I nodded. I had never felt so conflicted in my life. I was glad Samuel was gone and that he wouldn't be coming back for Anna, that he would never be able to hurt her again. Sometimes, I thought I would gladly have destroyed him myself, just as I sometimes thought I would gladly destroy Maria if I ever had the opportunity. But part of me, a small part of me in this instance, hated the waste of life and that any creature should suffer.

"Apart from the bites, are you okay?" I asked.

I wasn't asking about physical injuries, I wanted to know how he was feeling after killing Samuel. He wouldn't want to talk about it, but I knew that Samuel's fear and terror would haunt Jasper. Just as the final terrified thoughts of every human he had ever fed on and every newborn he had ever destroyed haunted him. Jasper knew what I was really getting at and he didn't answer.

"Did she say anything else to you?"

"Not really, we didn't really talk." He said, staring off into the trees behind me. "She's worried you will ask her to leave."

"Why would she think that?" I asked, my tone incredulous. "She can't leave." Once again, I was surprised at the strength of my feelings for Anna. For someone so small and quiet, there would be a gaping big hole in our family if she left.

He shrugged "I guess she feels that…" he trailed off and met my eye, "I think she feels that you won't want her here."

I nodded slowly, realising that this was more about Jasper and less about Anna. I could read the unasked questions in his golden eyes. _Do you love me, even after all I have done, after all I have told you? Can you still love me after I killed? Again. Do you want me to leave?_

"What did you tell her?" I asked.

His lips quirked up in a slight smile. "I told her you would be devastated if she left, we all would be."

"Would you?" I asked.

His eyes flickered to mine again, a frown on his brow. "Of course I would! I would miss her. Nothing would be the same without her."

It was true; our family wouldn't be the same without Anna. None of us would. I had watched over the past year as Edward and Jasper took on the protective role of big brothers, something neither of them had been before, and they bonded to each other through Anna. They were closer, more tolerant and respectful of each other than they had ever been before. Alice and Rosalie revelled in having another girl in the house, and Anna was so compliant at letting them take her shopping and painting her nails and doing her makeup. Alice had accepted and welcomed Anna effortlessly, as though she had always been part of our family. And Rosalie had surprised us all by warming to Anna faster than I had ever seen her warm to anyone else, apart from Emmett. And Anna was Emmett's little buddy, always willing to race him through the woods or get involved in whatever game or scheme he had thought up. I often thought I was better off not knowing what the two of them got up to when they took off into the woods together.

She was Esme's daughter. They were all Esme's children, but perhaps because Anna was so young, there seemed to be a genuine mother-daughter bond between the pair. She was my daughter too. I was physically only a few years older than these other vampires and the 'father-figure' role could sometimes be an awkward role to fill. They others didn't seem like my children, we were equals. We each had our strengths and we took care of each other. But with Anna, it was different. I wanted to take care of her. She needed me to.

"No," I answered, "Nothing would be the same without her."

"She can't leave, Carlisle. Where would she go?" he asked.

I shook my head; I had no idea where Anna would go. And I had no idea where Jasper would go either.

"She has to stay," he continued. "She's safe here. We can look after her; we all look after each other. She's been through so much and she has been hurt so badly. She deserves to be safe, with people who love her." He kicked at the soil and leaves on the ground with his foot. "She belongs with us."

I nodded but didn't speak. Jasper was an intelligent man, and I wondered how long it would take for him to admit what we were really talking about. Edward told me he had been fretting that I would make him leave, that I didn't want a murderer living under our roof. Apparently, it was going to take a little longer and I decided to help him out.

"You're seeing it from the other side now, aren't you?"

He met my eye and then looked away, awkward and embarrassed. Jasper rarely talked about his feelings, and hated seeming vulnerable and needy.

"You belong with us too." I said, repeating his words back to him. "How you feel about Anna, that's how I feel about her too. And it's how I feel about you."

Over the years, I had often found myself worrying about Jasper leaving our family. If Jasper left, Alice would leave too and I couldn't bear the idea of losing both of them.

"You're safe here too." I continued. "After everything you've been through, you deserve to be safe, with people who love you. And we love you, Jasper." My voice choked with emotion and I tried to swallow.

"Even after what I did?"

"What you did was defend your sister. We were all prepared to do the very same thing, even without knowing what had happened to her before today. Unfortunately, the task fell to you since you're the only one who really knows what you're doing. I'm sorry it has hurt you so much to do it, but it doesn't change how I feel about you."

He shifted nervously, his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his jeans. I wanted more than anything to hug him, to reassure him and comfort him. I didn't think he would let me, but I tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder and he surprised me by leaning toward me. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around me and I pulled him closer. I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times Jasper had let him hug him like this over the past five decades. He pushed his head against my shoulder and continued to talk.

"She's brave."

I nodded, wondering why our conversation had moved back to Anna.

"It's not easy to…" he faltered. "It's not easy to trust someone with your most horrible memories."

"No," I said "It can't be easy." I knew that even the very worst moments of my life didn't compare to the lives Anna and Jasper had lived.

He fell quiet and I rubbed his neck, his head still pressed against my shoulder. I wondered if maybe Anna would prove to be the catalyst I had been waiting for all this time and allow Jasper to tell me about his past. I knew the bare bones of his story, how he had been changed by Maria after the battle of Galveston and how she had used him, manipulated him, to help her keep control of her army of newborns. I knew he had destroyed countless newborns and fed on countless humans. And my knowledge of his gift allowed me to know that he had suffered tremendously because of all these things. He still suffered and bore the scars. Mental scars as well as physical scars.

"You can tell me, if you want to." I said softly. "I'll listen."

I felt his body tense and found myself holding my breath as he pulled away from me. He looked at me for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, I don't want to burden you with this."

I was quiet until he met my eye again. "You're not a burden. I want to help." I could see in his eyes that he wanted to talk, that he needed to talk. I was still holding my breath, convinced that the slightest movement from me would startle him and he would clam up.

With a heavy sigh, he sat down on the fallen tree. I sat beside him, unsure where to go next. Should I leave it? Or press him to talk? I couls sense he was close to giving up what he had kept to himself all these years.

He stared off into the trees and softly began to talk. As we sat there, for the first time in almost 50 years, he told me about the horrible things Maria had done to him and made him do. How he felt when he destroyed the newborns. How he felt when he killed a human. I felt my hatred of Maria grow when I learned the full extent of how much she had hurt him and manipulated him, leaving him feeling undeserving of anyone's love.

I tired reassured him that he was loved, we all loved him. And we didn't just love him because of Alice. Despite our efforts, we had never been able to fully convince Jasper that he was as much a member of our family as anyone else. His quiet nature meant he was often in the background and could be easily over-looked. But even if he had turned up on our doorstep alone all those years ago, we would still love him and he would still be a part of our family.

We talked until the sun came up and then we sat in the quiet as the forest around us came to life.

"We should go home." Jasper said finally. "They'll be wondering where we are."

I nodded but neither of us moved.

We continued to sit there for another hour or two, until the Washington rain moved in again and we were soaked within seconds.

We jumped up and Jasper gave me a shove backwards before he started to run the few hundred yards to the front porch. I laughed and followed him, almost catching him as he reached the front steps. He reached for the door and then stopped, turning back to face me.

"Thanks." He said, shyly.

"Anytime." I replied, surprised when he hugged me again before we entered the house.


	8. Chapter 8

And so our family of seven became a family of eight. Our number would grow again in the future, hopefully with a mate each for Edward and Anna. And then, who knew what would happen? Alice teased Edward by occasionally mentioned an elusive 'she' but refused to elaborate any further. At the very beginning, I had held hopes that Anna could be Edward's mate. He deserved someone, having spent so many years the only single person in a family of mated pairs. But it had quickly become clear that Edward and Anna would never be more than siblings. As Anna continued to find her feet in our family, they bickered and teased each other mercilessly. But they found company and a solidary in each other they couldn't find in any of the rest of us. As more memories came back to her, Edward continued to guard them for her until she was ready to tell someone else.

She sought me out on occasions, sometimes with Edward who did the talking for her when she found it too difficult. Sometimes she came alone, and with her voice trembling and tears gathering in her eyes, she told me what she had remembered. She could still be nervous and startled easily, and sometimes her feelings of fear were overwhelming, but she was learning that she had nothing to fear in this family. There was little I could do other than listen to her and occasionally offer physical comfort if she wanted it, I was thankful she felt able to talk to me now. As long as she kept talking, I hoped the horrors of her past would diminish and not plague her the way Jasper's still plagued him, over half a century later.

It was still Jasper Anna turned to before anyone else, but their relationship came to be on a more equal footing and he became just as likely to turn to her when the burden of his gift got too much for him. I was thankful for both of them. I dreaded to think what would have become of Anna had Jasper not been around in those early months, and I was thankful that Anna had proved to be the push Jasper had needed to tell me about his own past. There had been a change in Jasper almost immediately. He looked less tortured, less like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulder as the demons he had kept to himself for so long fled. And without the demons of his past telling him he was unworthy, he became more open and more accepting of our love, finally believing that he belonged with us too.

Emmett continued to provide ways for both Anna and Jasper to relieve stress and tension. He never mentioned what we had told him about Anna's past, and he probably never would. What had happened to her couldn't be changed or undone, and in Emmett's mind, there was no sense dwelling on it. We could only move forward. Emmett adored Anna and in some ways, I dreaded the day she found her mate. The poor vampire would have to jump through dozens of hoops before Emmett would allow him anywhere near his baby sister. And then he would have to face Edward and Jasper, who would have hoops of their own.

Rosalie remained fiercely protective of Anna, and eventually confided her own story in the girl. Anna became deeply protective of Rosalie in return, and was the first to defend her when Edward called her shallow or selfish.

Then there was Alice, who had gone to great lengths to assure me that her gift hadn't allowed her to see anything of Anna's future prior to the day after Samuel appeared. I never doubted her, but Alice seemed to blame herself that her gift had failed us. Alice's explanation was that Anna had never fully decided to stay with us, making it difficult for Alice to see anything of the girl's future. With a smile, she reassured me that she saw much of Anna in our family's future, but as was her way, she only gave me one of her enigmatic smiles and said there was little enough mystery in life before skipping off to join the others.

Still, I couldn't help but wonder if it was all just a coincidence that Alice had named her after Andromeda, the Greek goddess who was stripped and chained to a rock for crimes none other than being beautiful.

I returned to google one last time and found news reports of Alana Quinn's death. She had been 16, described as sensitive, loving and gentle. Yes, that was our Anna. Her father's car has been washed into the sea. The bodies of her parents were retrieved when the car was spotted by a couple walking their dog a few days later, but Anna's body was never found and the accepted story among the population of the small village where she grew up was that she had been carried away by the ocean.

When we had asked her which name she preferred, she had shrugged and said it was probably just easier if we kept calling her Anna. So for the most part, she stayed Anna Cullen. A fitting name, when I discovered it was a Hebrew name meaning 'grace'. Grace. Something we didn't deserve, free and unmerited favour. The bestowal of blessings.

Alana, I discovered was a name derived from the Irish word _leanbh_ , meaning 'child'. The 'A' in front made it 'precious child'. A most fitting name I thought, and despite her telling us to call her Anna, she became mine and Esme's Alana. Our precious child. Who we loved, who we were thankful for and who belonged with us.


End file.
